via @DailyCoffeeNews

More research is needed to understand the economic viability of coffee production worldwide. Currently, research is hampered by data availability. Across the board productivity increases (e.g. through more efficient use of fertiliser and new varieties) as well as adoption of modern agronomic techniques with the aim of mitigating production risk can have a positive impact on the global supply of coffee and thus may also reduce price volatility. While increasing productivity can help farmers to become more cost-effective, they may still incur losses in years of low prices. Price volatility is part of market risk which includes also exchange rate, interest rate and counterpart default risk. The data suggests that market risk (price risk) is a particularly important variable. Hence, mitigation of price risk should rank high on the agenda. Farmers need to get access to risk man...